Once a Wife by Patricia Keelyn

CHAPTER TWO

“Dad?”

Reece looked up from the ledger on his desk.

Drew stood in the doorway, his hands buried in his pockets. “Millie said you wanted to see me.”

“Yes.” Reece set down his pen and leaned back in his chair. “I do.”

Drew took a few tentative steps into the office, as if gathering his courage to face a firing squad. Reece couldn’t blame him. After the stunt Drew had pulled last night, he was probably expecting a severe reprimand and punishment.

“Sit down.”

Drew nodded and slid into one of the big leather wing chairs facing the desk. He looked so small in that chair. And brave. Ready to face whatever his father dished out.

“I’ve thought a lot about what happened last night,” Reece said. “I think you understand why I’m upset, so I’m not going to waste time discussing it further.”

“Yes, sir.” Drew sat a little straighter, and just like last night, a jolt of recognition jarred Reece.

Damn, if the boy didn’t look like Sarah.

Her Shoshone blood ran strong in him. He had her hair and eyes, both a shade lighter perhaps, but still hers, and the high cheekbones of her ancestors. Reece shook off the unsettling thought. This wasn’t the time to be thinking of Sarah.

“For the rest of the summer,” he said to Drew, “you’re going to be working for Tod.”

“Tod?”

Reece leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk. “You want to ride a horse like the Appaloosa? Well then, I think it’s time you started learning what you need to know. From the bottom up.”

Drew looked confused.

“You’re to do whatever chores Tod gives you. That means mucking out stalls, loading hay, grooming or helping with the breeding.” Understanding flickered in Drew’s eyes. “Tod will expect you down at the barn by six, and you’ll work until dark. Just like the rest of the hands.” Reece paused, letting his words sink in. Then he added, “And you’re going to have to manage your insulin shots and make sure you eat on time. Millie will help you work up a schedule. Understood?”

Drew nodded, obviously fighting a grin. “Yes, sir.”

Reece leaned back in his chair again. “Then maybe you’ll know a little something about horses. Enough not to let last night’s events repeat themselves.”

“Gee, thanks, Dad. I mean, I’ll—”

Reece lifted a hand, cutting him off. “This isn’t going to be a picnic, Drew. Caring for the horses is hard work.”

The boy immediately sobered, though his eyes danced with anticipation. “Yes, sir.”

“Okay. Go on now. Tod’s expecting you.”

Drew slid from the chair and headed toward the door, then stopped and turned to his father. “I can do it, Dad. Just wait and see.”

“I know you can.”

Drew grinned and raced out of the house.

Reece leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He’d had a long sleepless night, wrestling with his thoughts and his guilt. He’d always been busy, and as a result, hardly knew his own son. That had been made pretty clear last night. Although he’d always seen Sarah in the boy, he now realized there was some of himself in Drew, as well. A stubborn streak. Climbing onto that Appaloosa last night, just because someone had told him he couldn’t do it, well, that was something Reece himself might have done.

He’d also spent time considering whether he and his mother had been overprotective of Drew because of his diabetes. He’d never been asked to perform the chores most boys his age took for granted on a ranch. Maybe it was time to let him be normal.

“What was that all about?”

Looking up at the sound of his mother’s voice, Reece frowned. “Come in, Mother.”

Elizabeth Colby glided into the room and lowered herself into the chair Drew had just vacated. “Well?”

“I’ve decided Drew is going to work with Tod this summer,” Reece answered. “He wants to be a horseman, so let him learn what that means.”

“I see.”

“You don’t approve?”

She frowned and folded her hands in her lap. “I wish you’d checked with me first.”

“I didn’t realize that was necessary.”

“Drew was suspended from school last week.”

Reece leaned forward in his chair. “It’s summer. How could he be suspended?”

“Summer school. He failed two subjects this year.”

The news came at him from left field, startling him. “Why wasn’t I told?”

“You were on the road.” She leaned back in her chair, dismissing his question with a flick of her wrist. “I didn’t think you needed the distraction.”

“Distraction! Mother, Drew is my son. Don’t you think I should know what’s going on in his life?”

Her eyes flashed angrily, though she didn’t so much as move a muscle. “Suddenly you don’t trust me to care for him?”

“Of course I trust you.”

“Who was it who cared for him when he was an infant?”

“You did, but …” Though he wondered how much of Drew’s care actually fell to Millie.

“While you were at school back East, who watched him like a hawk, traveling back and forth with him to the Diabetes Center in Cheyenne? Who watched his blood-sugar count, gave him his insulin shots?”

“Mother, please.” Reece held up a hand to stop her tirade. She was right, of course. He couldn’t blame her for the fact he’d never been around. First there’d been school, and then the ranch to run. “I’m not trying to undermine what you’ve done for Drew over the years. You’ve helped us both. Still, I should have been told about his trouble in school.”

She glanced away, lifting her chin as if hurt. Reece knew better. It was just one of the dozen little ways she had of keeping everyone around her in line. After a moment, she turned back to him and said, “I was planning to tell you when things settled down. After the get-together yesterday.”

“All right.” Reece rested his elbow on his desk and ran a hand through his hair. Now was not the time to argue with his mother. “So, let’s back up. What exactly is going on?”

“I’ve already told you. Drew failed two courses.”

“What courses, Mother?”

“Math and English.”

Reece let out a snort of disgust.

“Summer school was the only option if he didn’t want to be held back in the sixth grade. But now …”

“What happened?”

“His teacher said he was a disrupting element in the class.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It seems he rigged a set of those fake rattlesnake eggs to make her think she had a snake under her desk.”

Reece shook his head. “Teacher new?” The rattlesnake-egg trick was an old one. Every boy in Wyoming had probably pulled it on a teacher at one time or another.

“From somewhere in the South.” His mother almost smiled. “Scared her half to death.”

Reece sighed. “So we make him apologize and then get him back into school. He can still work with Tod before and after class. It won’t hurt him to get up early.” Elizabeth pressed her lips together and frowned. “What?”

“That’s not all.”

Reece just looked at her. Getting information from his mother required the patience of a saint and the determination of a pit bull. He had both.

“Drew had an insulin reaction at school last week,” she finally said.

Again, Reece didn’t say anything. An insulin reaction wasn’t necessarily unusual for a insulin-dependent diabetic like Drew.

“His teacher believes he did it on purpose,” Elizabeth continued. “She thinks he purposely missed his midmorning meal.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

His mother just stared at him without blinking an eye.

“Why would he do such a thing?” he asked.

“I don’t know, Reece. After all, he’s your son.”

Reece winced at the jab, realizing he probably deserved it. Elizabeth Colby never missed an opportunity to claim the upper hand. “Okay,” he said. “What if I call his teacher. Miss … ?”

“Adams.”

“Miss Adams. I’ll call and talk to her. I’m sure we can work something out.”

“You can try. But I don’t think it will do any good. She was adamant about not letting Drew back into her classroom this summer.”

“We’ll see.”

Fifteen minutes later, Reece’s frustration peaked. He’d thought he’d found the solution to Drew’s problem. He would turn the boy over to Tod. A little hard work promised to be the perfect vehicle to straighten him out. But the problem went deeper than Reece had realized. His brief chat with the prim Miss Adams had convinced him of that.

Evidently, Drew had been acting up for months—getting into fights, pulling stunts like the one with the rattler eggs, failing to finish or bring in homework. Stuff every kid did on occasion. But according to Miss Adams, Drew’s behavior had become progressively worse since she’d first arrived in Devils Corner six months ago. She’d stated in no uncertain terms that Drew wouldn’t be allowed back in her classroom this summer, and Reece believed her.

But Drew’s behavior in school was no longer Reece’s main concern. Nor did he believe it was Miss Adams’s fear. The real danger was the insulin reactions. Drew’d had four in six months, and his teacher believed every one was deliberate.

Reece sighed and leaned his head back against the chair. He was out of his depth. He understood Drew’s stunt on the horse last night, but Reece hadn’t the faintest idea why Drew would do something as stupid as ignore his medical needs. With proper diet, exercise, and insulin, diabetes could be controlled. Drew knew that. But by defiantly ignoring his health, he courted disaster.

Sarah wondered if she was well-and-truly crazy.

She couldn’t believe she was here, sitting in her car outside the gate that marked the entrance to the Crooked C Ranch. Less than twenty-four hours ago, she’d been at her grandmother’s, certain there was nothing she could do to help Drew. She didn’t remember when she’d made the decision to try. Actually, she doubted now whether there had ever been a decision to make. Maybe it was just a matter of accepting the inevitable.

She needed to see her son and help him if she could.

Early this morning, she’d packed a couple of bags and took Lyssa back to the reservation to stay with Tuwa. Then Sarah had headed northeast. She’d considered trying to contact Reece, or at least Millie, before making the three-hundred-mile drive across Wyoming, but decided against it. Reece would most likely tell her not to come, and that was no longer an option. He would just have to deal with her when she showed up on his doorstep.

Of course, she had absolutely no idea what she would say to him. What could you say to the husband you deserted eleven years ago? Or to the son?

Before she could change her mind, she started her car and drove through the gate. On either side of her, the land rolled by, wave upon wave of rippling grasses, while above, the sky stretched forever, clear and blue and endless. The panorama was the same as it had been for the last twenty miles. Nothing indicated she was now on Colby land. Yet Sarah felt the difference, and the farther she drove, the more unsettled she became. With each passing mile, she grew closer to the man who’d been her husband. And to their son.

Fifteen minutes later, she spotted the ranch buildings, and panic seized her. The thought that it wasn’t too late to turn around scurried through her head, but she kept on, passing the barn without seeing anyone and then pulling to a stop next to the house.

She couldn’t bring herself to get out. Not yet.

She’d only been here once before, but she remembered every detail. Nothing had changed. The sprawling two-story ranch house of wood and stone, with its wide red-tile veranda wrapping around three sides of the house, and the row of cottonwoods running along its west side, shielding it from the late-afternoon sun, stood as testament to the prosperity of the Crooked C. Or more specifically, to the wealth from the oil Reece’s grandfather had found on the northwest corner of his land fifty years before. The Colbys were still ranchers, but unless their wells went dry, they didn’t have the worries most ranchers had.

She remembered her awe the first and only time she’d seen this house. Reece had brought her here to meet his parents and announce their marriage. She’d learned a hard lesson that day—one she’d thought she already knew. She’d learned what it truly meant to be half-white and poor.

She shook off the unpleasant memories and got out of her car. She wasn’t seventeen any longer. She’d come to see her son, and she wouldn’t let her fears stand in her way.

She walked around to the back and knocked on the kitchen screen door, hoping to talk to Millie first. It was the coward’s way, she knew. After all, she could put off the inevitable only so long. But she breathed a sigh of relief when a gruff female voice answered her knock.

“Come on in. I’ll be right down.”

Sarah opened the door and stepped into the big modern kitchen. She only had a second to look around before Millie appeared on the back staircase.

“Well, I’ll be …”

Sarah smiled tentatively. “Hello, Millie.”

“Sarah.” Millie nodded her greeting and took the last few steps down into the kitchen, but didn’t come any closer.

“I hope my being here won’t cause a problem for you.”

“Nope.” Millie settled her hands on her hips. “I figured you’d come.”

“I had to see Drew for myself.”

Millie nodded again and crossed the kitchen to one of the gleaming white counters. “Coffee?”

“No, thanks. Is he here?”

“Somewhere.” Millie proceeded to rinse out the coffeepot and dump out the grounds and filter without looking at Sarah. “He’s due back for his shot in about an hour.”

The information stung like a reprimand. From Millie’s letters, Sarah knew Drew had been careless with his health lately. She wondered if Millie blamed her for Drew’s problems. Lord knew, Sarah blamed herself. “And Reece?”

“In his office. Down the front hall, second door on the left.”

“Do you think he’ll see me?”

“If you go in there, he’ll have no choice.”

“I don’t know.” At the thought of confronting Reece, panic once again threatened to overcome her. “Maybe if you told him I was here …”

“You tell him.”

Millie was right. She’d already done enough—possibly even jeopardized her job by keeping in touch with Sarah. “Is anyone else in the house?”

“Nope. Mrs. Colby’s over at the Hawthorne place.” Sarah took a deep breath. At least she wouldn’t have to face both Reece and his mother at the same time. “Okay. I guess the worst he can do is kick me out.”

Millie finally turned and met her gaze. “Go on. I’ll bring coffee for the two of you in a bit.”

A few moments later, Sarah stood silently in the doorway to Reece’s office. In truth, she wasn’t at all sure she could have spoken if she’d wanted—not once she saw him. She’d told herself on the long drive from Oaksburg that she was only here to see Drew. She’d tried to stop thinking of Reece years ago.

She hadn’t succeeded.

He looked wonderful. So much better than the grainy snapshots she’d cut out of the newspaper. Those pictures hadn’t done justice to his broad expanse of shoulders or his sun-tipped hair. Or his skin, seasoned by sun and wind and long days on the plains.

He must have sensed her presence, because suddenly he looked up. For a heartbeat, she saw the man she’d loved in his eyes, and a rush of warmth wrapped itself around her.

“Sarah?”

At first, Reece couldn’t believe his eyes. He was seeing things, the way he sometimes saw Sarah when he looked at Drew. Or the way he sometimes remembered her in his dreams.

She took a step into the office. “Hello, Reece.”

Her voice snapped him out of it. This was real. His ex-wife stood in his office, the woman who’d walked out on him and their infant son more than eleven years ago. A long-familiar anger grew in his heart.

“May I come in?” she asked.

“It looks like you already have.”

She pressed her lips together and moved farther into the room, motioning toward a chair as if asking permission to sit. When Reece didn’t respond, she sat, anyway.

He realized then why he hadn’t immediately recognized her. Everything about her had changed. When he’d known her, she’d been a rough-and-tumble cowgirl in jeans, denim shirts, and boots. This woman wore a long brightly colored skirt, a plain white top and moccasins. And her dark hair, which had once flowed untamed about her shoulders, hung in a single neat braid over one shoulder.

“What do you want, Sarah?”

She looked away for a moment, before turning back to meet his gaze. “You look well, Reece.”

No. Not everything about her had changed. Her eyes were the same, dark and hypnotic, eyes that could make a man forget. But not him. He’d never forget. “You didn’t come here to exchange pleasantries.”

“I was hoping we could be civil to one another.”

“Now why would you think that?”

“We were once—”

“Yes, Sarah.” He crossed his arms and stared at her. “What were we? I’ve asked myself that question a time or two.”

“We had a son together.”

“An inconvenience it took you little time to correct.”

She lowered her gaze and turned away again. “Reece, I didn’t come here to discuss what happened between us.”

“No, I don’t expect you did.” He couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice—though he would have liked to. He didn’t want her to know how badly she’d hurt him all those years ago—when he’d been young and foolish and head over heels in love with her. “So, why don’t we get right to the point? What is it you want? Money?”

She looked at him, anger flashing in her dark sorceress eyes. “I’ve never cared about your money.”

“Oh, no? Funny, that’s not what you told me the last time we spoke.”

A blush darkened her cheeks, but she held his gaze, straightening slightly with a movement so familiar it sent a jolt of recognition and pain through him. He focused on the pain.

“And what about the man you left me for?” All the bitterness Reece had stored inside for the past eleven years rose up, striking out at this woman he’d once loved. “I imagine he’s long gone. Or you wouldn’t be here.”

“I’ve come about Drew,” she said stiffly.

“What about him?”

She paused before saying, “I want to see him.”

“No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

“It’s a simple word, Sarah.” He sat forward in his chair and rested his arms on the desk. “One even you should be able to understand.”

“Reece, I know he’s having trouble …”

“How would you know that?”

“I know he’s failing classes and he’s been kicked out of summer school. And I know he’s neglecting his health.”

Her words struck him silent. How could she know this when he’d just found out himself? “I’m a teacher,” she continued. “Maybe I can help.”

“How did you know about this?” The question was out before he could stop it.

Sarah shrugged. “What difference does it make?”

“Did my mother contact you?”

She laughed, a sharp, almost bitter sound. Then she said, “I want to help.”

“The only way you can help Drew is to leave him alone.” He stood and leaned across his desk. “Leave us both alone.”

“But—”

“Go back to where you came from, Sarah.” A slow roll of anger had built inside him. Who had contacted her? And what the hell right did she have to come here now claiming she could help the boy she’d deserted as an infant? “If you try to come near him, I’ll slap a restraining order on you.”

She sat for a moment without moving. Finally she stood. “I’ll be staying at the motel in town. I’ll be there for a couple of days. If you change your mind …”

He straightened and crossed his arms. “I won’t.”

“Give me a call. I’m registered under the name Hanson.”

“Goodbye, Sarah.”

She closed her eyes and nodded. Then she headed for the door and nearly collided with Drew, who came to a screeching halt just inside the room.